Take a Stand Against GMOs

Take a Stand Against GMOs

For far too long Big Food has been lying to us. Despite over 1 million people signing a petition AND the vast majority of Americans supporting informational labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Big Food continues to fight to hide GMOs in our food. I’ve had enough of it, and I’m taking a stand. Please, join me!

The bottom line is I believe we all have a right to know what’s in our food, and there are some reasons for concern (here are some links to some additionalresources). And while we can debate the safety of GMOs ad infinitum these simple facts are enough for me:

I don’t trust people or corporations who intentionally hide the truth—it’s called lying, plain and simple.

The worst way to deal with concerns is to hide. Label GMOs and let people make a choice. If GMOs are truly such a great innovation won’t the light of day make that even more apparent?

Most developed nations require GMO labeling. Canada and the US are two major exceptions.

There have been NO independent, long-term studies to understand the safety of GMO consumption by humans. Yes these long-term studies are expensive and take time, but isn’t our health worth it?

Since the early 1990s we have seen a marked increase in unexplained childhood conditions including food allergies +400%, asthma +300%, ADHD +400%, and autism +1500%. When were GMOs were introduced? The early 1990s. Obviously there are many variables driving these alarming statistics, but could GMOs be a contributing factor or part of a chain of unintended consequences? Or is it just a coincidence? I honestly don’t know the answer, but something is definitely going on in our environment and WE DON’t understand it. Label GMOs and let people make a choice if they want to opt in and support the companies and science behind this technology.

Right now, however, we are all at a very important crossroads, and it’s important to act. Californians have an initiative called Proposition 37 on their ballot this fall. It would require food manufacturers to label GMOs (you can read the initiative here). Big Food is fighting it tooth and nail, and it’s raised a reported $23 million to date. Compare that to the meager $3 million raised by the proponents of GMO ingredient labeling and you can see why I’m scared.

Now you may not be surprised that Cheetos (owned by PepsiCo) is supporting the fight against GMO labeling, but did you realize some of your favorite organic brands aren’t supporting Proposition #37? Yes, many organic brands are owned by Big Food companies, and therefore are actually on the wrong side of this issue. The Cornucopia Institute has put together this following graphic to help call out these two-faced, Corporate Charlatans that pretend to stand for real food. [Click here for a full-sized version and Cornucopia’s full report.]

Pretty disturbing, huh? So what can we do with this information?:

Share it! Knowledge is POWER!

Vote with your wallets. Boycott these brands and manufacturers.

Let these Big Food corporations know that we aren’t going to put up with their lies. How? Tell everyone you know the truth. Personal conversations with friends are one of the most POWERFUL ways to do this. Sharing information online is great, but follow it up with a personal conversation, please! It will make a HUGE difference.

So you don’t live in California, and you think this doesn’t apply to you? You’re wrong. I worked in Big Food for 15+ years. I’m confident that if California requires labeling, Big Food will have to label GMOs for the whole USA. Our GMO fate as a country could be helped by this vote in California.

Get active. If you live in California, Vote yes for Prop. 37. All of us, however, can volunteer, donate, and speak up.

I’ve recently volunteered in support of Vote Yes for Prop. 37, and I encourage you to help out in any way you can. Here’s a link to the California Right to Know Campaign site where you can join the effort and pitch in. And to all you media folks out there, you want a story? Here’s one–I’ve even already got the headline for you: “Former Processed Food Executive Speaks Out Against GMOs” Call me. Let’s talk. Together, we can all make a difference.

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Updated April 2015 to fix broken links and update the featured image.

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This Post Has 9 Comments

I believe wholeheartedly in this initiative. But I hope your readers will fight the house version of the 2012 Farm Bill which has the King Amendment. This amendment, called PICA, prohibits states from enacting laws that place “onerous conditions” on the means of production for agricultural goods that are sold within its own borders but are produced in other states. In Congressman King’s own words:

“I am pleased that the Committee passed my amendment, the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA) because states are entering into trade protectionism by requiring cost prohibitive production methods in other states,” said King. “PICA blocks states from requiring ‘free range’ eggs or ‘free range’ pork but covers all agriculture products listed in section 206 of the Agriculture Marketing Act of 1946. By 2014 California will require only ‘free range’ eggs be sold and the impact of their large market would compel producers in every other state to invest billions to meet the California standard of “means of production.” PICA will ensure that radical organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and PETA are prohibited from establishing a patchwork of restrictive state laws aimed at slowly suffocating production agriculture out of existence.”

Thank you for writing this post. While it is a little depressing to me because of a few of the brands listed in the left side of the chart….this is information I genuinely want to know to make smarter purchases on my next grocery trip. I am a big proponent of real-honest-to-goodness food.

I think it would be good to start a http://www.change.org/ petition to get this on a more national stage so those of us outside California can work on the problem more directly, too. We shouldn’t leave our fate to what happens in California.

This is a great blog post. I am from Canada and watching this proposition as well.

Writing the article title for reporters is great… But you can take it 1 step further. You can write the article for reporters and make it available with photo and the infographic. This way the reporter’s job is done and they can just plop your article in their newspaper or website. A lot of PR companies do exactly this and it works.

For big distribution, find a list of local, regional, state and national newspapers and email the finished article to all of them. Not all will print but you will get some.

I have pinned this post to my Pinterest board. Thanks for everything you do, Bruce!! I ran across your blog recently through one of the other sites I subscribe to – Slow Food USA or PANNA, most likely. I am now a subscriber, and I appreciate having another tool to get the word out!!

I’ve always been into eating healthy and cooking, but when I got pregnant with my (now) 4 yr old I ran across an article about BPA in baby bottles while researching baby products, and I’ve never looked back. I started eating organic -although not exclusively – while pregnant, and I buy organic for my daughter as much as I can.

I am a vocal opponent of Big Food/Monsanto/Big Ag and take every opportunity to educate people however I can, and I appreciate your efforts. It just amazes me how uninformed and unaware a lot of people are when it comes to food, but I was one of those people myself only 5 years ago! As a pediatric nurse, I have seen the increase in disease you speak of in your post, and it is truly scary. I try to educate my patients about these issues because, as you said, knowledge is power and the more people are aware of the sad state of our food supply, the bigger chance we have of successfully fighting these greedy corporations!

Sorry for the rant…I’ll get off my soapbox now. ; ) Keep up the good work!!

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